Chile: An Ambiguous Left Takes Office

In the October 1970 presidential election, there were some 3,540,000 registered voters. About 600,000 abstained. The candidates of the left-wing Popular Union coalition won 1,075,616 votes (36.3 percent); The “national” (rightist) candidate, Jorge Alessandri, 1,036,278 (34.98 percent); and 824,849 voted for Tomic, the Christian Democrat (27.84 percent).

Allende’s plurality was based on his lead in the northern provinces (notably Tarapaca, Antofagasta, Atacama) and in ...